Way back in 2021, Marvel Studios debuted a six-part series called Hawkeye. In it, Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), is dealing with the aftereffects of losing his best friend Natasha and getting back his family from Thanos. Meanwhile, superhero-in-training Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) finds herself hunted by the same people who want Hawkeye dead and the two team up to form a formidable friendship and partnership. Oh, and Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) is behind it all, we meet a soon-to-be Marvel hero in Echo (Alaqua Cox), and much more.
All of those plot points were covered in Hawkeye, and the newly arrived Assembled: The Making of Hawkeye is now digging a little deeper into the series. Marvel has released hour-long look-backs for each of its Disney+ shows so far (those being WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Loki), and in each one, we’ve learned some very interesting, cool facts. What follows are the 11 we thought were the most worth pulling out about Hawkeye, Kate, Kingpin, Echo, and more.
It All Began on Avengers: Endgame
Producer Trinh Tran revealed that it was during the filming of Avengers: Endgame that she and other Marvel folks began talking about continuing Hawkeye’s story. And as they discussed all the possibilities, they soon realised this was more than a two-hour movie. This was a potential Disney+ series, and the rest is history.
Talkin’ Clint
Jeremy Renner believes that in the first two weeks of shooting the Hawkeye show, he had more dialogue than he’s had in every single Marvel Cinematic Universe film he’d appeared in up to that point, combined. He also found that the increase in dialogue allowed him to continue to find out more about the character.
Only Hailee
When Marvel realised they wanted to bring fan-favourite character Kate Bishop into the MCU, everyone had one name at the top of their list: Hailee Steinfeld. So she was brought in for a meeting, and without everyone else’s knowledge, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige offered her the role on the spot.
A New Beginning, Literally
As it stands now, Hawkeye begins with Clint and his kids in New York City for Rogers the Musical, with his wife Laura (Linda Cardellini) back home in Iowa. That was not how the show originally started. Originally, it started in Iowa with the whole family but the decision was made to cut that part. The documentary doesn’t say why, but probably to make Clint’s return at the end a bit more impactful.
One RSVP
According to the documentary, all of the living Avengers were invited to New York to see Rogers the Musical but only Clint showed up. Which is, honestly, a pretty great indicator of how he’s changing his personality.
From Widow to Boss
The Stunt Coordinator on Hawkeye was Heidi Moneymaker. She helped design all the fights and action and made sure they were safe, amped up the mock fighting in Rogers: The Musical, and more. That’s cool on its own, but it gets even cooler when you realise she got her start with Marvel as Black Widow’s stunt double going all the way back to her introduction in Iron Man 2. According to IMDB, she’s now the stunt coordinator on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
A Brand New Star
Before being cast as Maya Lopez, aka Echo, in Hawkeye, Alaqua Cox had never acted. She only went out for the role because not one, but three of her friends sent her a casting link saying she’d be perfect for it. Three months later, she was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Another fun fact, because Cox primarily uses her hands to communicate, Maya’s fighting style was designed to use more elbows so she didn’t hurt her hands.
Hawkeye: The Ride
One of the coolest scenes in all of Hawkeye is the car chase in episode three. The scene was shot for real, with Clint and Kate’s car on a contraption described as a “driveable platform.” So the car is actually being driven at real speeds, only from above and behind. Jeremy Renner had a blast filming the scene and said if Disneyland were ever to make “Hawkeye: The Ride,” this would be it.
A Good Boy
Pizza Dog was always going to be in Hawkeye and the dog Marvel cast — a three-year-old Golden Retriever named Jolt — was perfect. Before filming, Hailee Steinfeld hung out with him a bunch to build up a rapport.
More Swordsman?
When Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton) is introduced in Hawkeye, we expect that he’ll become the Swordsman, a crucial Hawkeye character from Marvel Comics. He doesn’t, but the powers that be put him in there both as a red herring and because having a great actor in that role could leave more opportunities to explore him later. If they want.
The Return of Kingpin
Probably the biggest surprise in Hawkeye is the return of Kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio. The idea was Kevin Feige’s. The team was discussing which Marvel character could be scary enough to really impact everyone on the show — and when they thought about New York and organised crime, one name came in at the very top. Marvel’s team didn’t know if the actor would be game, but one call from Feige did the trick.